Feeding spiders to barbs - good idea?

[BartokTheDog]

Hi,

Another question for the board -

My apartment gets overrun with spiders in the summer, and I've been dropping the little buggers into my tank for a "treat". I have a few young tiger and red glass barbs, and the seem to enjoy it.

Is this a terrible idea?

1. Can the fish "choke" if I put too large a bug in?
2. Does spider venom pose a threat here?

Any advice appreciated, should have asked before doing it I know.

 

[xXMrBonesXx]

where abouts are you from? .. im guessing in the wild the fish would get a treat of some bugs ... just do some reasearch on spiders to see what species carry venom because i dont know if id want to be handling spiders that do .. on another note, excellent way to dispose of them lol, fattens up your fish and rids your place of some spiders

 

[CFC]

All fish apart from the true herbivors will take advantage of the nice treat of a terrestial bug falling into the water so insects make a great additional food for aquarium fish and help keep their diet more varied, i feed my fish crickets from the pet store on a weekly basis.
As said though do you know if the spiders carry a dangerous venom? All spiders are venomous but the venoms vary in strength, i have no worries about feeding spiders found in England to my fish but if i were in a more tropical country i would be a little worried.

 

[plecoperson]

you need to be careful. I heard off a spider expert that daddy long legs spiders are more venemous than a black widow! But their fangs are not big enough to penetrate human skin.But Id avoid those for your fishies!

 

[ProGolferCL6]

do u give the spiders to the fish alive or dead?

if they are dead be careful, they could have died from some poison sprayed down by the bugman..

 

[Acrus]

In responce to the daddy long legs comment : It's a myth, much like the Poprock and Cola idea... more or less.

Here is an excellent link that will clear things up

http/spiders.ucr.edu/daddylonglegs.html

for the skinny, most people confuse the "Daddy Long Legs" with the "Daddy Long Legs Spider" (yes they are different). One is the critter that you find under logs, and in peoples basements (what most reffering to as a daddy long leg) and this guy has no poison and feeds on decomposing vegetation etc. (But will eat live prey if the oppertunity comes)

The other is actually a spider, less commonly seen. In this case, Yes, their fangs are too short. But becasue they are too short, there haven't been any recorded cases of poisoning. And due to Humane acts, they are not allowed to test to see if it is really that poisonous.

More detailed info on the link i posted. Enjoy!

 

[gixer]

i always give my fish daddy long legs...never did them any harm.

thats most deffinatly a myth

 

[Pleco-Heaven]

SPIDERS?? I would never do that!!! They keep down the fly population down in my garden!!!!

 

[luxum]

I'm ROFLMAO trying to imagine feeding my little fish the freaking gigantic spiders we have around here.

 

[Nidge]

I have always fed my fish with little bugs i find in the house and from the garden they love them and i have never seen them look ill from any of them.

 

[cation]

*oops* Was going to debunk the myth, but it's already been taken care of so I won't double post the info, sorry.

 

[Acrus]

Sorry! I jumped the gun on you